Pathfinder 2E Is this a fair review of PF2?

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Am I? I guess it depends on how you define "meat" and "meaningful" in this context. Blunt trauma as a result of an impact against armor is certainly meatier and more meaningful than an arrow that doesn't make contact, due to luck or divine intervention. Endurance to withstand a hit certainly has more to do with the toughness of your meat than endurance to dodge does.

Most importantly, though, blunt trauma as a result of armor impact can result in eventual incapacitation as a result of cumulative wounds; and it can't reasonably be seen to vanish over the course of five minutes or an hour. In that way, every hit you take is very meaningful (even if it's not as meaningful as a hypothetical arrow through the torso would be).

Your response does not explain how the fighter can take more hits if he/she is simply higher level.

to be clearer, let’s assume the fighters are wearing leather armor. how does fighter A take 20 hits before he goes down and fighter B only takes 2. We are also assuming that all arrows do 4 damage.

they are wearing the same armor (same AC even) and the attacks do the same damage (4). How does A survive 10x linger than B.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

The difference between an experienced fighter and a beginning fighter is that they don't get seriously hit. Their skill allows them to dodge more blows, or take them as superficial. They know which attacks are not actually dangerous and don't spend energy avoiding them. They stay at the range where a simple sway avoid contact, and they step into some attacks so the impact is weak and ignorable.

I didn't say that it was realistic. I said that it was reasonable. Most importantly, though, it's consistent with the rest of the rules.

they are wearing the same armor (same AC even) and the attacks do the same damage (4). How does A survive 10x linger than B.

Physical toughness is an objectively-quantifiable characteristic, which varies from person to person. Some people are chumps, and require less physical trauma before they fall down. That's all there is to it. Some people are Glass Joe, and some people are Mr. Dream. The only semi-fantastic element is that Glass Joe can become like Mr. Dream, through Atlas bodybuilding products. I mean, through hard work and experience.

Or if you really want to say that the two fighters are identical, and skill-at-avoiding-hits is what lets you suffer less objective trauma from each impact (with your capacity being unchanged from start to finish), then fine. The rules aren't quite as consistent with that interpretation, but you're still coming from a good place, and we could still play at the same table. It's just a matter of taste, on how much of the fantastic you're willing to accept in your fantasy world. It's not like you've gone completely off the deep end by claiming the arrow didn't even hit, or that it only takes an hour to recover from being beaten nearly to death.

 

[Campbell]

Regarding that whole glass jaw thing. It's like not really a thing outside of guys who have gotten knocked lights out a number of times. Basically the more you have gotten knocked out the more likely you are to get knocked out cause your brain has gotten tossed all around. Like outside of defenses no one is really good at taking punches. I imagine that's even more the case with more distributed blunt trauma you would get from a warhammer striking armor or getting stabbed.

Sometimes in certain areas carrying some extra body fat does help, but I cannot imagine that's included in Constitution.

Also completely dodging punches and kicks coming straight at you from a skilled combatant is fanciful, much less 6 feet of cold steel.